ArticleViruses2023
The Omicron Sub-Variant BA.4 Displays a Remarkable Lack of Clinical Signs in a Golden Syrian Hamster Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.
Article in Viruses, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Infection of urban rodents by SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 healthcare facilities in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.One health outlook · 2026Article
- Current Advances and Applications of Animal Models in SARS-CoV-2 Pathogenesis and Vaccine Development.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Article
- Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant (B.1.617.2) in Domestic Dogs and Zoo Tigers in England and Jersey during 2021.Viruses · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The ongoing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus variants remains a source of concern because it is accompanied by the potential for increased virulence as well as evasion of immunity. Here we show that, although having an almost identical spike gene sequence as another Omicron variant (BA.5.2.1), a BA.4 isolate lacked all the typical disease characteristics of other isolates seen in the Golden Syrian hamster model despite replicating almost as effectively. Animals infected with BA.4 had similar viral shedding profiles to those seen with BA.5.2.1 (up to day 6 post-infection), but they all failed to lose weight or present with any other significant clinical signs. We hypothesize that this lack of detectable signs of disease during infection with BA.4 was due to a small (nine nucleotide) deletion (∆686-694) in the viral genome (ORF1ab) responsible for the production of non-structural protein 1, which resulted in the loss of three amino acids (aa 141-143).
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.